14 .rf'" ...r r" /,-í ,r of ,./ r /-' r -f..í...r ..r -f.r...r ..r ,...r,...r'" -" T HE census enulneration of transients in New York City took place on one appointed day last week. In the uptown hotels, the guests were given spe- cial blanks, which they could fill out privately, seal in an envelope, and return to the room clerk. Downtown, in the cheap hotels and missions along the Bowery, the procedure was necessarily different. None of the homeless men knows in the morning whether his address will be a flophouse, an all-night mission, or a snug doorway. Accordingly, the census enumerators waited until evening to cover the Bow- ery. In each of the hotels-the Sunshine, L ncle Sam House, the Plaza, and the rest-were two enumerators, who got the statis- tics on each guest before he was allowed to register and go to his bed. \\T e hung around for a while in the bare, tiled public room of one of these places, which had an indescribable smell of desolation. The enumerators were two brisk young boys of Italian descent, who were estab- lished at a table. They told us that their instructions were to enumerate the first hundred and fifty men who registered; after that they could go home. "\\,:'hat if somebody checks in late, after you've gone?" we asked. "Then he ain't in the 1 940 census," one of the boys said. In a corner sat a large, doz- ing cop, a symbol of the municipal mis- trust of poor people. "Need the cop?" we asked. "Not once," they told us. "These fellows are gentle as lambs. Sur- prised at anybody being interested Ü1 them, that's all." A tall young man in shabby clothes came over and stood by the table. "Name?" Mumble, mumble. "\Vere you working last week? " 1\;1 um- ble, mumble. "How many weeks did you work in 1939?" Mumble, mumble. The Bowery was freshened by a , ..r ..r, " "Good Nlorning", Higg-ins. F'ine day, if I do say it ;nyself.)) ralysis, clear up the skin, steady the nerves, make for fertility, and keep the hair from turning gray. Somehow or other we are inclined to take all this with a grain of fertilizer. Our cat has been eating grass for years and he is in ter- rible shape-hard of hearing, toothless, half blind, nervous as a witch. King Nebuchadnezzar ate grass and it was not regarded as a symptom of intelli- gence. Furthermore, we doubt if we'd enjoy thinking of a lovely lawn in this cold and nutritive light; it would make us uncomfortable to think that we were . . lying around in tomorrow's breakfast, playing croquet on what would soon be soup. Please, the little signs would seem to say, keep off the pancakes. I NCIDENTAL INTELLIGENCE: One of the organ-grinders operating on the East Side is a strict adherent of the American neutrality program. His rep- ertoire includes the "Marseillaise," im- mediately followed by "Die \Vacht am Rh . " eln. Sign on the window of the List Food Afl\l L 2. 0, 1 9 + 0 Shop, 202 East Forty-second Street: "\VHEN HUXGRY \VE DELIVER SANDWICHES." The Manufacturers Trust Company has no guards in its Fifty-fifth Street branch-just a couple of hardy, flat-footed men h h d " R .." WIt t e wor eceptIonIst on their coats, right over their shoul- der holsters. Transients